The universe was once very small. So small and heavy that it couldn't shrink anymore and so instead it exploded and expanded fast and urgently like it was running away from being so cramped in that tiny little dot, the size of a freckle. It got tired and slowed though, as you do when you've run so hard and for such a long time, but still it reached farther out like high tide crawling its way up dry sand.
As it got bigger it seemed everything in it got farther apart, too far apart now to really see or touch or know each other, so I guess it began to miss itself, miss the warmth and security of being in a such a tight embrace.
So the tide began to retreat, slowly first, but then rapidly. And things crashed into each other on their way back to the center, like they were all in a big hurry to get home and hug tightly like they used to. At the center of it all, where everyone was so excited to get to, there was a magnificent flame that was so magnificent because the energy and mass and power of a wide, beautiful universe had clashed like many different glitters mixing together and all that sparkle in just one place makes it even more beautiful.
And even though we are still far enough way, our sparkling destination shines brightly, and your head is positioned just so that it seems as if you are glowing. I admire you for a moment, your lopsided face and early greying and all the little wrinkles that texture your complexion. I imagine you're doing to same, trying to burn this image of me all the little details of my appearance into your mind's eye, so that when we end up wherever it is we're going, you can find me again.
I take your face to mine and I close my eyes but I can still see the center shining like a porch light left on, and when you see it you think how late it is and how happy you are to be home.